Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Story Behind Skavookie

Someone asked me what "skavookie" means. Actually, many people have asked that. It is an obscure historical reference. The music genre known as ska actually began in the 1950s in Jamaica. It influenced early rock and reggae descended from it. But people have short attention spans and so forgot about ska until it came back into style, first in England in the 1970s, then in the US in the 1980s. And then there was the 1990s. Personally, I consider some of the ska of the late 1990s an abomination, but appreciate the earlier generations and the history of ska. But what does skavookie mean? How should I know? But the story is that one of the original pioneers of ska greeted his friends with "skavookie." So I guess it is a friendly greeting.